Anyone handy with a router? Midlands

[garethfriend]

Ok I tried a local luthier who was less than optimistic about the job and hasn't gotten back to me, I have also considered doing it myself but have neither the tools nor the recent experience with a router to feel confident doing this (I used one to build a bedside table in school but that was a good few years ago now).

Basically my pickup routings are about the right thickness but about 6mm too short to take the pickups I want to put in, they need extending by a few mm at either end. Pretty small ammount of wood to remove really but because the bass has a solid finish (not sure if it is paint and lacquer or some type of poly finish) rather than natural I have been told it is going to be difficult to avoid chipping the finish.

After a bit of research I'm fairly sure that this is possible to do and to make look right, now I need someone lined up to do the work once the pickups arrive. Does anyone know anyone within about an hour of Derby who has the tools and skill to do such a job?

Failing that I'm off to buy/borrow a router and look for some junk bass bodies to practice on (would rather not go down this road for so many reasons it's untrue but if push comes to shove...). Tips for getting a clean cut through the finish?

Note to self: either buy a bass that has standard size pickups in it to start with or ones that I am happy with.

[Roland Rock]

If you still need it, PM me and I may be able to help. I'm not a luthier, but am pretty experienced in woodworking

[Max Normal]

[quote name='garethfriend' post='1053542' date='Dec 9 2010, 11:46 PM']Ok I tried a local luthier who was less than optimistic about the job and hasn't gotten back to me, I have also considered doing it myself but have neither the tools nor the recent experience with a router to feel confident doing this (I used one to build a bedside table in school but that was a good few years ago now).

Basically my pickup routings are about the right thickness but about 6mm too short to take the pickups I want to put in, they need extending by a few mm at either end. Pretty small ammount of wood to remove really but because the bass has a solid finish (not sure if it is paint and lacquer or some type of poly finish) rather than natural I have been told it is going to be difficult to avoid chipping the finish.

After a bit of research I'm fairly sure that this is possible to do and to make look right, now I need someone lined up to do the work once the pickups arrive. Does anyone know anyone within about an hour of Derby who has the tools and skill to do such a job?

Failing that I'm off to buy/borrow a router and look for some junk bass bodies to practice on (would rather not go down this road for so many reasons it's untrue but if push comes to shove...). Tips for getting a clean cut through the finish?

Note to self: either buy a bass that has standard size pickups in it to start with or ones that I am happy with.[/quote]


To get a clean cut, I would mark out the new cuts and then score them deeply with a chisel before you rout then. This should stop the finish chipping and flaking beyond the cut line.

If you are going to do the routing yourself, if you want an accurate and controlled job, I'd recommend getting a profile following router bit and making/buying a pickup routing template (you can buy these from the states on ebay for a very good price, can forward you details if you need them). The profile follower bit has a collar that freely rotates on a bearing and is the same width as the cutting blades of the router bit and sits on above the blades below the collet. You stick the routing template onto the guitar body with double sided carpet tape and insert the routing bit into the existing routing at a depth that will allow the rotating collar to follow the profile of the routing template. Remember to get a router bit with the collar on top of the blades and not below, and bear in mind that the minimum radius of the cut will be the same as that of the router bit, so if you need fairly square corners, you might need to drill the corners out first (forstner bit is good for this), and if they are very square, you'll have to use a chisel.

I would seriously advise against trying to rout this freehand, Youd probably be better off using chisels and doing it by hand.